


The Piper

by LeDiz



Series: The 48: Dreamworks [6]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen, Mindscrew, Unfinished, but very smart for a legend, discussion of child soldier, not a nice guy, pied piper of hamlin, the Guardians actually trying to guard kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-08-09 03:54:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7785754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeDiz/pseuds/LeDiz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Pied Piper of Hamlin has returned, and that's not a good thing. The Guardians are going to stop him, but they forgot one thing: The Pied Piper takes children and... not all of them are technically 'adults'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Piper

“The Pied Piper,” North repeated with a frown. “As from Hameln?”

“Right.”

Jack shifted his staff to his left and leaned on it, struggling to keep up. It was Fall in the northern hemisphere, and promised to be a late winter, so he wasn’t really at the top of his game. “Wasn’t that a Children’s Crusade, or something?”

“There’s a lotta stories, but if I had to pick one, I’d go with that,” Bunny said, folding his arms over his chest. “The Pied Piper is a sprite conjured by witches. He takes a lot of magic to summon and control, so most don’t bother. The Hameln incident was what happened when his witch couldn’t control him.”

“Why would anyone summon him?” asked Tooth. “And why would he take children?”

“And how the heck would his magic still work in this day and age?” Jack added. “Stranger danger and all that. Don’t follow weird guys who promise puppies, don’t get in any white vans…”

“He –”

“No, really,” he interrupted, staring around at them all blankly. “A creepy guy in leggings shows up and says he wants to show you his flute. What kid in the twenty-first century is going to stick around?”

“He has point,” North said mildly.

“His magic doesn’t work like that,” snapped Bunny. “He doesn’t talk. He just plays. And the kids follow. The adults don’t even notice them leaving until they’re gone.”

“And you’re sure he’s coming here?” asked Tooth. “Why?”

“Same reason he was in Vietnam fifty years ago. Same reason he was in Hameln. Child soldiers and opportunity. There’s a war here and they’re using kids,” he said darkly. “He could take a bunch of them and everyone would say they ran off to join the military.”

“Ah, war,” North muttered. “What good is there?”

“Ain’t my place to comment, mate. Sandy’s already chasin’ down the gumby that lost control of him, trying to get him unsummoned, but it’s our job to get a hold of the piper.”

“And you’re _sure_?” Tooth insisted. “We’re not guarding the wrong town?”

He nodded. “Sure as snakes is snakes. Got a fortune told. Reliable sort. He should be here by ten, local time.”

“Then we must make sure there are no children for him to charm!” North said, smashing a large fist into his palm. He turned to Jack, who took a moment to notice, and raised an eyebrow when he did.

“Hey, I play a mean flute, but I’m no security piper. Besides, I have a grand total of two believers in this town, North. They’re both in their eighties, senile, and it’s more of a ‘frost is coming to kill you’ sorta belief. Pretty sure I’m on support this time, not distraction.”

“No! I say you should create blizzard!” he laughed. “Children—no one—will go outside if snow storm is raging.”

Jack continued staring at him blankly. It was Tooth to point out, “North, it’s October. Most of the trees still have leaves on them.”

“Even better! It will be freak snowstorm! It will cause a panic, and –”

“Yeah, and I’ll get to hear about it from Mother Nature,” Jack interrupted, straightening up with a frown. “It’s only been like five years since my last freak snowstorm on this scale – do you even know what she’d do to me?”

But even as he argued, he knew they didn’t really have another option. He was the only one who could cause a situation for children to not be around to hear the piper’s music.

Not that he was happy about it. He didn’t like the darker side of his powers, their consequences, or the way other immortals looked at him when they realised the happy, fun-loving winter spirit could and had killed hundreds with his temper tantrums. Not to mention the whole screwing with nature thing was something he only liked doing when the reaction was worth it.

He eventually agreed, though, for the kids, on the proviso that the other three go to the surrounding towns while he worked. Not only would it get them out of harm’s way, but it also meant they didn’t have to see exactly why Pitch had wanted his power. Even then, he only convinced them to actually go by pointing out that they could be wrong about the target, and either way, what was to stop the piper from just going to the next town while they protected this one?

Once they were gone, he found himself the highest statue in town, whispered apologies to Mother Nature and any local spirits, and then hefted his staff to the sky.

It took him two hours, and altogether too much power. It was _not_ his time of year. But eventually, the children who had just begun leaving for school were called back inside, and the early workers huddled inside the nearest buildings. Lightning cracked across the sky as sleet and then hail gave way to snow, still falling fast and quickly piling up on cars, doorsteps and gardens. Weather reporters braved the storm and Jack snarled at them, forcing them back indoors with stronger, colder winds.

Adults or not, he didn’t want anyone outside when the piper came.

After another hour, when the streets were clear except for his power, a single figure cut through the white. Jack watched it move for a few moments, well aware that anything able to stand up in this weather wasn’t human. When he didn’t see Bunny’s broad shoulders or a North’s broader coat line, he leaned in close to the statue and just waited.

The piper wasn’t anything like the new stories said, but something about his robe reminded Jack of something he’d known Before. He was tall, and only slightly heavier than Jack’s own stick-thin frame, under a heavy red cloak. Despite the strength of the winds, he almost strolled through the snow, looking around curiously and turning a long wooden pipe through his fingers.

“So it is true, then. Old Man Winter has joined the Guardians,” he said loudly. “Should I greet the Ice Prince or acknowledge the Winter Shepard?”

“Can’t say either appeals,” Jack called back, knowing the storm would shift his voice around. Sure enough, although the piper looked around, he didn’t look up.

“A name then? I know legends, but no truths.”

“Jack Frost.”

“Ah, the English appropriation. I am familiar. But you sound American.”

He ignored that, falling silent again. The piper continued moving toward the statue, though he was slower now, more cautious. His smirk glinted in the snow. “The new guardian takes to his role with gusto, I see. Protecting the children, are you? Where were you all those years ago when this war broke out? What child have you protected here from anyone but me?”

He ignored that, too. He’d tried to interfere in wars over the years. The American Revolution, which he remembered fondly if only because it had gotten him in a book. A civil war or two. He’d learned his lesson with Rasputin, and had stayed out of human conflicts ever since.

“So then, Jack Frost,” the piper continued, turning on the balls of his feet and still staring around warily. His back was to the statue now. “You have come to face me and foiled my plan. Will you now let me go, or shall we fight?”

Rather than answer, Jack dropped soundlessly down behind him, biting back a grin as he waited for the piper to turn around and realise his back wasn’t as protected as he thought. It took a minute, but when he did, it was well worth it. The piper leapt backward with a sharp breath and stumbled on his back foot before regaining his balance. Jack hunched forward in a mocking bow.

“Actually, I’m just here to keep you busy until my friends come remove you from this plain,” he said bluntly. “It’s up to you how painful it gets to be.”

“Oh no,” the piper breathed, staring at him. “No, I’d much prefer to talk. They call _you_ Old Man Winter?”

“That’s not me,” he said, spinning his staff to hold it in both hands. “I either replaced him or we just do the same job, but yeah. Not me.”

“But you’re just a _child_!” he insisted, and Jack scowled.

“Says you. I’ve got three hundred years and counting to say I’m not.”

The piper shook his head and moved a step closer, ignoring the aggressive shift of Jack’s staff to lean forward and openly marvel at his face. It was kind of creepy, but Jack was beginning to think creepy interest was a bad guy prerequisite, and did his best to ignore it. Maybe he could distract him, though…

“What do you want with them?”

The piper made a vague grunt as he began walking again, circling Jack to see him from other angles. Another creepy prerequisite. Also vaguely annoying.

“The kids. Why do you want to take them?”

“It depends. Some children I take for reasons not my own. Those who summon me, who can control me, they want children for their own reasons and I will do as bid. Some I take because it is better to abandon than be abandoned,” he said, and clarified with a small smile at Jack’s glance. “Ignored children. Broken children. I take them away from homes they are not desired in, to a world where they are wanted.”

Jack frowned, twisting around to look at him properly. “What, you’re saying you take care of them?”

“What did you think I did? Eat them?” he asked, his eyes doing an odd slide up and down Jack’s body before settling on his gaze.

“I – I didn’t think to – then why are you here? War aside, these kids _are_ wanted. They’re loved, and protected. I don’t –”

“Because _I_ want them too,” he said, rushing into Jack’s personal space and taking full advantage of the height difference by leaning down over him. “I need soldiers, I need playthings. Oh yes. We have great fun, my children and I.”

“Somehow I think you and I have different definitions of ‘fun’,” Jack snarled, and shoved him away with his staff before twirling it up and around, ready to fire. “And I bet the kids think more along my lines than yours.”

“Yes, I imagine they do,” he said placatingly, raising his hands where Jack could see them. His pipe glinted through the storm. “Tell me, how old were you? Before you became what you are? You were mortal once, yes?”

“I didn’t exactly count the summers,” he snapped. “What’s your point?”

“It is best to ask, before experimenting,” he said, and Jack only had time to narrow his eyes, confused, before the piper’s hands snapped around and a soft, sweet tune sliced through the storm.

 

* * *

 

From the ground, surrounded by trees and buildings, Bunny couldn’t see the storm that barely brushed his town’s borders. He could smell the snow and hear the soft thunder, though. When it faded, only a few minutes after they’d expected the piper to show his face, he frowned, and wished North would hurry up and make those mobile phones he kept talking about. Or at least a walkie-talkie.

In lieu of that, he jumped up the nearest building and peered up at the sky, frown deepening as the clouds over the town began to drift apart. “What are you doing, Frostbite…?”

To the South, Tooth bit her lip and looked back down at the schoolyard she was watching over. The children were all at break, discussing the sudden cold snap and wondering if they would get snow too. She couldn’t leave them, but for Jack to have given up the storm so early…

“Maybe I asked too much of him,” North murmured as he directed the sleigh back toward the town. “It is not his season. Maybe he could not bring so much snow so quickly?”

The last thing he wanted was Jack pushing himself too hard. But none of them knew the limits of Jack’s powers – not even Jack. Academically, they knew the only way they were going to find those limits was to push him, but that didn’t make him feel better about it.

He found Jack in the middle of the square, standing still and quiet as light snow fell around him. His hand was lax on his staff, shoulders bowed, and North hissed in a guilty breath. He _had_ gone too far. The boy was exhausted.

“Jack!” He leapt down from the sleigh while it was still off the ground and hurried to his new friend, barely keeping himself from touching. “Jack, are you alright?”

“Oh, he’s just fine.”

North stiffened and snatched his swords from the air, immediately pointing them at the voice echoing across the courtyard.

The piper was leaning against a large statue, fingering out silent notes on his pipe with a smile. “Father Christmas. I am honoured. And here I thought you had sent your new recruit for lack of a challenge.”

When Jack didn’t respond to the implied slight, North glanced over his shoulder. But Jack hadn’t moved at all, and so North brandished one sword in warning at the piper before side-stepping around to see his face.

He was completely blank. Staring dully at the air in front of him and clearly not seeing a thing.

“No…” North dropped his swords to instead grab Jack’s shoulders, shaking him hard. “Jack! Jack, answer me!”

“If you insist,” the piper said cheerfully, before a soft, high-pitched note rang out, and Jack blinked once before focussing on North. His crooked smile almost looked normal.

“Oh, hey, North. What’s up? Uh… you holding me up for a reason? You’re not gonna kiss me again are you? Because… yeah. Awkward.”

“Jack! Jack, what happened? What did the piper –”

“The piper?” He laughed and shook his head. “You don’t need to worry about him, North. The master explained everything to me; it’s completely fine.”

“Master…?”

Jack raised his eyebrows, grin broadening as if he was amused by North’s confusion. Then he laughed again and started squirming. “You wanna put me down? This is a little uncomfortable.”

“Jack is an interesting creature, Father,” the piper said, pushing off the statue to stroll forward. “I admit, he’s a little older than I normally take. I had to concentrate quite hard, but that centre of his… once I found that, it was all too easy. And now he’s mine. He may be my finest acquisition, don’t you think?”

“I think you had better be prepared to _die_!” North shoved Jack back to the ground to take his swords again, but before he could so much as take a step, the piper had his flute back up, and was playing a tune that brought Jack between them, staff up and at the ready.

“Back off, North! I won’t let you hurt him!”

“Jack!”

He just glared, the wind picking up around them again, and the piper grinned.

“You heard the boy. He’s mine now, North.”

“You sick –” He stopped himself from surging forward as Jack’s staff shone with icy power, coming close enough to cool his nose. With great effort, North forced himself to take a step back and lower his swords. “Jack, please…”

“No, North,” he said quietly. “You don’t understand. He’s my master; he’s going to take care of me.”

And that alone was enough to make North drop one of his swords and his jaw. “Take care of you? Jack, I have promised you this a thousand times since you became guardian! You always say you don’t need –”

Jack just shook his head hard, his grip shifting on the staff as if he needed it for strength. “No! No, the master showed me –”

“He tricks you!” he shouted. “What master? What master could have you, Jack Frost? You, who are freedom of like never before seen! Who needs no one, needs nothing but the smile of his children? You have no master!”

“I do now,” he snarled, and it was all the warning he gave before thrusting his staff and a whirlwind of snow against North’s chest, slamming him up and away to crash into a snow-covered car.

The piper laughed, then played another tune, and by the time North managed to look up, Jack had slumped into stillness again, completely unaware of the piper draping around his shoulders. “Isn’t he impressive? I can’t believe I never thought of this before. An immortal child! One who will never grow old, is unlikely to die, and—this is the finest thing—will never be shocked out of control, because he’s already done everything I would ask of him! I must thank you, Father Christmas. The gift you have given me is worth far more than the token I came for. And it’s not your season. My eternal gratitude.”

“He is not yours to control,” North ground out, but the piper only smiled and nestled closer, laying his cheek against Jack’s in some parody of affection. North surged back to his feet, teeth bared in fury. “He is not even child! Jack Frost has never been child – he died young man and was reborn –”

“The fact my pipe can control him would prove you wrong,” the piper said coolly, and then leaned just far enough away to drag his eyes down Jack’s front in a way that only served to make North’s blood hotter still. “Older than my usual fare, I admit, but it is an acquired taste I feel I can adapt to. And believe me, I shall enjoy acquiring it. But of course, if you would like to argue the point, I’m sure Jack will be all too happy to defend me.”

He raised his pipe again but didn’t play, waiting for North to make his move. The guardian grit his teeth, hands tightening on his swords, and knew that even if the piper woke Jack up, it wouldn’t take much. Aside from Sandy, Jack was probably the best of them in power, but it was all magic. In a physical match, even the little believer Jamie could and had taken Jack down easily. All he had to do was get rid of the staff and the match would be won.

This, he knew.

Staring at Jack’s blank face, open and innocent, without the smirk or dark glare that aged him so well… of course the magic had worked. Jack was just a child, aged by loneliness and responsibility.

And North had never in his life knowingly hurt a child.

He dropped his swords, turning his glare back to the piper, defiant. “We will get him back.”

“I daresay you’ll try,” he agreed.

 

* * *

 

By the time North found the others, explained what had happened and herded everyone back to the Pole, Sandy was waiting with a look of disbelief and a terrified witch.

The other three exchanged glances, but didn’t have time to speak before Sandy was off, gesturing and miming too fast for anyone to guess at what he was saying, although they all knew what he meant.

Jack had come after the witch. Sandy had been forced to fight him.

“Did you win?” Tooth asked quietly. “Did you bring him back?”

A cross. The sign of a melting snowflake disappearing behind a curtain that exploded into a thousand other snowflakes. Jack had run away before he could be completely defeated.

“Who knew the kid had brains?” Bunny muttered, and Sandy frowned at him before looking to the others for an explanation. When they gave it, Sandy slapped a hand to his head and floated away, his expression saying what he couldn’t – he should have known. They all should have known this might happen.

“How are we going to get him back?” asked Tooth. “From what you said, he seems to have all his memories, and I don’t think he’ll let us kidnap him again.”

“I say we beat the piper’s tune right outta his thick head,” Bunny said gruffly. “All four of us together? He’ll have a snowball’s chance in Hell. Literally.”

“No.” North sank into an armchair with a weary sigh. “I will not hurt Jack.”

“I won’t either,” said Tooth.

“Well then whaddaya all suggest we do?” demanded Bunny. “We can’t just let the piper have him! Jack’s the kind of firepower he needs to cause some real havoc! I’m not lettin’ either of them get away with this!”

North frowned at him. “Is not Jack’s fault, Bunny.”

“No! It’s yours!” he snapped, and they all blinked. He glared right back. “You were the one who told him to make the blizzard! You’re the reason we had to leave him alone! I never should’ve gone along with that stupid plan! If I’d been there, that snake never would’ve had a chance to –”

“Oh, Bunny,” Tooth sighed, fluttering over to lay her hands on his arm. “Bunny, it’s not your fault either.”

He stared at her for a second, then wrenched his arm away and stalked off, breathing hard. Tooth bit her lip, but eventually turned back to North and Sandy, folding her hands over her lap. “We need a way to break the spell. I’ve never seen the piper on his own before – does anyone know how his magic works?”

They both shook their heads, then turned to the witch, who winced.

“Ah, I was, ah, hoping you’d forgotten me,” she said awkwardly. Sandy scowled, cracking his knuckles, and she tripped backward a little. “Let’s not be hasty, though! I’m still the only one who can unsummon the piper!”

She balked as both Tooth and Bunny snapped around to look at her, lifting her hands. “Not while he’s wild! He got away from me because I couldn’t subdue him! And – and – and keep in mind that any creature he has under sway will stay by his side, summoned or no. You’d lose your little psychopath! Er, I mean, friend.”

Sandy let his whip fade back into non-existence, and the witch relaxed a little, shifting where she stood.

“The piper’s magic is a charm. It’s not dominance.”

“What’s the difference?” asked Bunny, and she wheeled her wrist, searching for an easy explanation.

“Dominance forces your will on another. Charm is more like encouragement,” she said, and Tooth hissed.

“Jack would never attack Sandy!”

“Ah, sorry, badly phrased!” she cried, and tried again. “It – I mean, um, it’s… Charms can only force the body to do things it… understands. Things it can explain, or justify. Uh… the… To use an example, if Frost had never fought a real battle before, for life and death, he couldn’t have attacked us the way he did. The experience would have shocked him enough for his own will to take back control. Th-that’s why the piper’s jaunts are so rarely successful. He can, uh, he can only control children and children… don’t usually have experience in killing. He needs to build them up to it. And before he does, he usually… He, er, the piper… you see, he… gets bored. And distracts himself with… other things that children are even less prepared for.”

“Like what?” asked Bunny, and the witch cringed, but was saved having to answer by North’s heavy sigh.

“All this is why Jack is such prize,” North muttered, leaning into his hand. “He is both child and warrior. He can fight battle without having to be trained. He will not be surrendered easily.”

“And from what you’re saying, the only way to break the spell is to make Jack do something he’s never done before,” surmised Tooth. “But I don’t understand – he’s never attacked Sandy before, shouldn’t that be enough?”

“Um, no,” the witch said, glancing around at doorways and windows only to come back to the guardians when she realised there was no way out. “It’s the action and the emotion that’s familiar – fighting to win at any cost. Not the direction of it.”

“So it’s gotta be an actual action,” Bunny surmised. “Fan-bloody-tastic. Anyone know anything Frostbite hasn’t tried before?”

Even Sandy winced. Even as short a period of time as they’d known him, one very clear thing they’d realised was that Jack _liked_ trying new things. He was even up to date on all the latest technology and entertainment fads. None of them could think of a single thing he wouldn’t have tried at least once.

“Maybe – maybe the answer’s right in front of us,” Tooth said, flitting back and forth as she tried to think. “Jack said the piper was going to take care of him. The piper usually only takes children that are neglected somehow. Jack is… well, as much as I hate to remind us all, but Jack certainly does fit that criteria.”

North huffed, as reluctant as Tooth to remember three hundred years of essentially ignoring the boy, but Bunny and Sandy both looked at her curiously. “What’s your point?”

“We can wake him up the same way the piper usually shocks the children out of his spell!” she cried. “The fighting is an exception – the fight with Pitch was the first time he’d ever used his power like that. If the piper had tried this a year ago, it wouldn’t have worked! So, if we think like that, whatever has startled the children will probably startle him, too!”

“Oh, yeah, great,” Bunny said dryly, turning to lean back against the wall. “Now all we have to do is find out what it is.”

“No, Tooth is right! This narrows problem down!” North said, leaping to his feet. “Is likely to be something children do not do. Think, think, what do adults do that children do not?”

 They all frowned, and Sandy cringed, bringing up images of money.

“There is work, but no, no, children have always worked,” North said, shaking his head.

“Paying bills?” Tooth suggested weakly.

“Cleaning,” Bunny threw in. “Frostbite sure never did that before.”

The witch just gaped at them all. “Work and chores are what you think of? You all really are that naïve…?”

“Argh, all this thinking is not action!” North cried, swiping his hand through the air. “I say, we go, we incapacitate Jack, tear Piper limb from limb, and then spend next however long working out how to break spell. Yes? Yes. Bunny, you take Jack, we take piper. No more talking.”

They all nodded, and the witch buried her face in her hands.

 

* * *

 

They followed the freak snowstorms until they reached New Zealand, where they found a plateau and a small army of children, all laughing and clapping along with the piper’s latest tune. At first it looked like Jack wasn’t even there, but by the time they landed, he had rolled out of a tiny inlet of rock and moved forward like a proper guard.

He looked tired, and honestly, none of them were surprised. It had been less than a day, and even without the battle with Sandy, they’d had reports of more than six snowstorms. It didn’t matter where you were on the globe – in early October, snow was unusual. He barely had the energy to ice his staff, but he still lifted it in warning.

“Please tell me you guys are here to apologise,” he said, and they all winced at the weak crack in his voice. “I really don’t want to do this again.”

The music stopped, and everyone but Jack looked up to see the piper passing through the crowd of children, his fingers smoothing over their heads as he walked. They all smiled with glazed expressions, as unaware as Jack himself had been without orders.

“Now, this is an honour,” the piper murmured as he came to a stop beside Jack. “Is my new toy so strong that all four guardians feel they need to come?”

“You will let him go,” North bit out. “This is last warning. You will release him, and you will do so now.”

“No, I don’t think I shall,” the piper replied cheerfully. “Jack, tell these people.”

“The master –”

“The hell with your master!” Bunny shouted, and leapt forward. Jack and the piper only had time to flinch before Bunny bowled Jack off his feet and into the grass, slamming his head against the ground to black him out. Bunny didn’t even pause to double-check, springing up and turning to the piper. “You’re mine, mate. Tooth – take care of Frostbite!”

“On it,” she said, while North, Sandy and Bunny all charged for the piper, who had sprung back behind his children.

Jack wasn’t quite out, as evidenced by the way his eyes cracked open as she knelt down beside him. He managed a weak smile. “Come to take the pretty teeth by force?”

“Can’t say it’s never crossed my mind!” she teased weakly, but couldn’t keep her smile up for long. She brushed his hair back from his face, her heart breaking when the movement made his breath catch for a moment. “I’m so sorry, Jack. But you’re not yourself.”

He blinked wearily, his eyes staying closed a little too long. “I’m glad I didn’t have to fight you, Tooth. He’s really not that bad. He’s going… going to take care of us…”

“No, he won’t,” she whispered. “I know he’s made you think so, but he won’t.”

“Hm.” His eyes slid closed again, and Tooth sucked in her bottom lip, her fingers trailing over his face. He’d been sweating – frost edged down from his hairline, and there was a flush to his cheeks that almost gave him a natural skintone. “Be strong, Jack. It will be better soon.”

His eyes flickered again, brows furrowing as he struggled to stare at her. He looked so lost. Like he couldn’t understand what was happening, why she was here, or what she was doing.

How long had it been, she wondered, since he’d felt a warm touch? She hadn’t seen his face when Jamie hugged him, but she’d seen the amazed shock on his face when North had grabbed him up in his ever boistrous way. She’d felt the way he’d lingered in her hug, the longing in his eyes that was caught between three different emotions he didn’t understand. He never initiated touch, but he savoured it when he got it, hiding how much he liked it behind bluster and complaints.

Without even thinking, Tooth lay her whole palm against his cheek, and lifted the other hand to trace the other side of his face, gently reminding him she was there, and giving him all the touch he would never admit he wanted.

“I’m here, Jack. We all are,” she whispered. “We’re not going away.”

And then she leaned down and gently pressed her lips into his cheek. Jack stiffened completely, and she closed her eyes to hold back tears, remaining still against him until the ice of his skin made her lips and nose go numb. Then she pulled back, just enough to meet his wide eyes, and tried to smile. “Pinkie swear!”

Something, she wasn’t sure what, sparked across his eyes, and he croaked. Then he blinked, seemed to remember he needed to breathe, and gasped down a breath before whispering, “Tooth… I believe you…”

She frowned. She hadn’t heard the piper’s music, but Jack looked like he was about to try and do something. He started scrabbling around and she winced, gently pushing his shoulders to keep him down.

“Jack! Jack, it’s okay. You need to stay still.”

“N-n-nngn…!”

He rolled over and tried to use the better leverage to get her off, but his arms failed him, and this time, when he went down, it was temple first, hitting the ground with a very final thunk.

...

**Author's Note:**

> The 48 are a collection of unfinished and pointless fics saved to my hard drive. I don't know when the last time I touched this was, but it was years ago. It's absolutely up for adoption if anyone wants to finish it, because yeah... it's not going anywhere for me, much as I wanted to like it.


End file.
